ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the life of Mark, a fictitious drug user. Mark has overdosed. The people he was with had fortunately received training in overdose prevention and recognised the signs. The overdose leads to Mark being admitted to a local hospital, where he is given specialist care. An outreach worker, Phil, makes contact with him and seeks to persuade him into treatment, but Mark isn't interested. Phil seeks to engage with Mark, offering him harm reduction information and seeks to establish an informal connection. He applies motivational techniques to help Mark realise that he wants his life to be different, and to help him realise that there are other options. Phil raises the idea of a more comprehensive assessment but Mark is uncomfortable about this. The weekend before Mark is due to have his comprehensive drug and alcohol assessment he discharges himself from hospital.
